Evaluation of incense-resinous wood formation in agarwood (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam.) using sonic tomography

Abstract Incense-resinous wood of agarwood is a high-value non-timber forest product found in the trunk or branches of Aquliaria and Gyrinops species. Incense-resinous wood of agarwood is formed as a response to tree damage caused by wounding or fungal attack. Detection of such wood in trees has generally been carried out based on natural signs such as dark spots or black marks when peeling back tree bark, but these often yield uncertain results. Sonic tomography can be applied to predict the presence of incense-resinous wood in standing trees. The objective of this study was to evaluate sonic tomography at various trunk heights based on variations in the sound velocity associated with the presence of incense-resinous wood. Ten agarwood trees ( Aquilaria malaccensis ) were selected for this study; five trees were artificially inoculated with Fusarium solani fungus and the other five were untreated. The results showed that the height of the measurement did not significantly affect the propagation velocity of sound waves or the tomographic results. Sonic tomography revealed that prediction of the deteriorated zone which is indicative of incense-resinous wood formation was 1.1% greater in inoculated trees than in uninoculated trees.

[1]  Dodi Nandika,et al.  Reliability of sonic tomography to detect agarwood in Aquilaria microcarpa Baill. , 2014, Journal of the Indian Academy of Wood Science.

[2]  Xiping Wang,et al.  Evaluation of acoustic tomography for tree decay detection , 2008 .

[3]  Ghanbar Ebrahimi,et al.  Internal decay assessment in standing beech trees using ultrasonic velocity measurement , 2009, European Journal of Forest Research.

[4]  S. Pojanagaroon,et al.  MECHANICAL METHODS TO STIMULATE ALOES WOOD FORMATION IN AQUILARIA CRASSNA PIERRE EX H.LEC. (KRITSANA) TREES , 2005 .

[5]  E. Thomas Smiley,et al.  Picus Sonic Tomography For The Quantification Of Decay In White Oak (Quercus Alba) And Hickory (Carya Spp.) , 2004, Arboriculture & Urban Forestry.

[6]  G. Persoon,et al.  Agarwood: the life of a wounded tree , 2007 .

[7]  Xiping Wang,et al.  Acoustic tomography for decay detection in black cherry trees , 2009 .

[8]  Dodi Nandika,et al.  Sonic and ultrasonic waves in agarwood trees (Aquilaria microcarpa) inoculated with Fusarium solani. , 2015 .

[9]  S. Akter,et al.  Agarwood Production - A Multidisciplinary Field to be Explored in Bangladesh , 2013 .

[10]  C. Peng,et al.  Agarwood Inducement Technology: A Method for Producing Oil Grade Agarwood in Cultivated Aquilaria malaccensis Lamk , 2015 .

[11]  Jian Xue,et al.  Comparison of Compositions and Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oils from Chemically Stimulated Agarwood, Wild Agarwood and Healthy Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Gilg Trees , 2011, Molecules.

[12]  Y. C. Kim,et al.  Effect of the aqueous extract of Aquilaria agallocha stems on the immediate hypersensitivity reactions. , 1997, Journal of ethnopharmacology.

[13]  L. Ng,et al.  A review on agar (gaharu) producing Aquilaria species , 1997 .

[14]  Ta-Te Lin,et al.  Detecting deterioration in royal palm (Roystonea regia) using ultrasonic tomographic and resistance microdrilling techniques. , 2011 .

[15]  Siegfried Fink,et al.  Detection of incipient decay in tree stems with sonic tomography after wounding and fungal inoculation , 2008, Wood Science and Technology.

[16]  R. Bruce Allison,et al.  Decay Detection in Red Oak Trees Using a Combination of Visual Inspection, Acoustic Testing, and Resistance Microdrilling , 2008, Arboriculture & Urban Forestry.

[17]  Agus Wahyudi,et al.  POLA AGROFORESTRY TANAMAN PENGHASIL GAHARU DAN KELAPA SAWIT , 2011 .

[18]  Rasmina Halis,et al.  Microscopic Observation of 'Gaharu' Wood from Aquilaria malaccensis , 2013 .

[19]  M. Bhuiyan,et al.  Analysis of essential oil of eaglewood tree (Aquilaria agallocha Roxb.) by gas chromatography mass spectrometry , 2008 .

[20]  Robert J. Ross,et al.  Analysis of wave velocity patterns in black cherry trees and its effect on internal decay detection , 2014 .

[21]  M. Turjaman,et al.  Development of Agarwood Induction Technology Using Endophytic Fungi , 2016 .